Man, the news just keeps coming today. Here’s another great Old 97’s feature story, this one from the Detroit MetroTimes. Money quote from Rhett Miller: “…were not going to play in Deep Ellum anymore.”

Speaking of picutes, it’s hard to imagine any graduate of a certain prestigious Dallas prep school actually needing the dough, but at least one of them, maybe two, have decided to auction off their old yearbooks online. Big deal, right? I think so too, except for the fact that that the selling point on both is that they feature baby-faced photos of two students who’ve done pretty well – one Rhett Miller and one Luke Wilson. The 1986 pic of a freshman Rhett is especially priceless. But since not many people like their old photo’s being passed around, I won’t post the URL. Nor will I post that old publicity photo of Rhett and Murry taken when they were two-thirds of the pre-97’s popsters, Sleepy Heroes, in which Rhett is showing nipple. But if I ever need money… Kidding. I kid.

Finally, you know that October 30 show at Dallas’ Granada Theater? Rumor is that this will be a two-set, Tenth Anniversary show for the guys’ debut album, Hitchhike To Rhome, where for the first set, the band will play Hitchhike start to finish (though probably not including the 10:56 gap between “Ken’s Polka Thing” and the hidden track, “Tupelo County Jail.” 😉 then a second set with everything since, including a big slab of Drag It Up. At least that’s what Ken Bethea’s reportedly said on at least one recent occasion. So when’s the last time you heard the band roll out the “Old 97’s Theme” or “Desperate Times”? And you’re gonna miss that? I thought not. More soon!

One final note: there are some great acts opening announced for the 97’s on the upcoming leg of their Drag It Up tour. The October 8, 9, 22, 23, and 24 shows will feature Sarah Lee and Johnny, while the October 11th through 19th shows will feature steel guitar whiz Jon Rauhouse, who played steel on the 97’s Too Far To Care. If you’re lucky, perhaps Jon will join the guys onstage for a number or two. The lovely Grey DeLisle (a.k.a., the better half of Murry Hammond) will also be joining the bill on October 14, 15, and 16. Finally, October 26, 27 (venue TBA), 28, and 29 shows will showcase Chomsky, who followed the Old 97’s with their own national TV debut on The Late Late Show just last month.

On July 25, David Cunniff took his daughters to (an Old 97’s) concert in Deep Ellum. A fight broke out and he was badly beaten. The 44 year father of two is paralyzed from the neck down and is hospitialized at Baylor Hospital without medical insurance.

Why We’re Doing It? This is not just another fun run! This is an event to raise awareness about senseless violence. It is also a run to help raise money for the family of David Cunniff.

Cost is $20 and people can register at Legal Grounds at 2015 Abrams. The race starts at 7pm on September 2, 2004. The will be drawing for prizes and everyone who registers gets a t-shirt designed by Art Magnet students.

The Race Down Violence 5K is an effort by friends and people who are outraged at these types of life-altering violence and want to do something as well as standing up as a community to denounce violence.

The race will start at the Lakewood United Church at 2443 Abrams Road.

Let me know if you need any additional information. You can reach me at my office at 214-747-6660 ext. 6637

The Old 97’s are working on setting up a benefit show for David Cunniff, the Dallas father who was severely injured in an altercation at the Old 97’s July 25th show in Dallas’ Deep Ellum district, an assault for which his assailant has now been arrested. More word as the situation develops.

You guys are familiar with the World Cafe, right? It’s a great and long-running music program that runs on some 165 public radio stations around the country. Well the Old 97’s will be the featured guest TOMORROW, August 20. If you miss it, can listen online Monday to Friday at 2pm ET or 1am ET by going to http://www.xpn.org/listen.php

Also, the 97’s will be on the small screen again next month, this time on CNBC’s McEnroe, on Wednesday September 22. The show airs from 10 – 11pm ET.

In other TV news, have you seen this ad? To the sweet and dulcet tones of the Old 97’s “Question,” a young and handsome couple spend a romantic day together, at the end of which the guy suddenly puts the girl into a taxi and sends her away in favor of playing the latest release of a popular video game. The sponsor? EA’s Madden NFL 2005.

Finally, here’s a fine new review of Drag It Up from popmatters.com. And you know what’s so great about it? Because finally here’s a reviewer who gets the significance of this album, in what could and should be a career of many decades for the Old 97’s. Enjoy.

Also, you can begin to pre-order your tickets for most Old 97’s October shows, beginning tomorrow. Tickets for the 10/14 El Lay date are already on sale! In additon, the Old 97’s Image Archive page is also back up and walking, if not running. Check it out.

Finally, two notes on the Old 97’s Merchandise page. First up, the supplier is already out of Drag It Up CD’s, and until they get restocked, you won’t see a button to order the CD on-line. Second, I just received this note from our friends at amplifier.com, who operate the Old 97’s on-line store:

“Apparently, Yahoo! is having some rare technical problems today which has caused some of their stores to go down. Unfortunately, www.amplifierstores.com is being affected by this.”

“We have a trouble ticket in with Yahoo!, but they said it could take up to 24 hrs for the issue to be resolved (typical). In the mean time, we have moved the affected online stores to another location (our old store). Please change the Merchandise link on Old 97s.com to: http://store.yahoo.com/copernica/old97s.html This will resolve the problem until www.amplifierstores.com is back up.”

Thanks to all your photo submissions, the new photo page should be back up in the next couple of days, but the new Downloads page takes it’s first baby steps today, with a newly updated Old 97′ screensaver and thanks to Traycie West.